Video News/In Focus with Jeremy Szafron

Silver fell more than 10.5% on Feb. 12, 2026, dropping to a low near $74.89 before stabilizing around $75, while gold declined nearly $150 to roughly $4,879. Speaking with Kitco News, former JP Morgan bullion desk executive Robert Gottlieb said the selloff reflected structural pressures inside institutional risk systems rather than coordinated intervention. As gold rose from about $2,600 a year ago to above $5,000 and silver climbed from $28 to roughly $72, he said higher prices and volatility mechanically reduced exposure capacity. “The allowable positions based on navar become significantly small,” Gottlieb said. He described the move as a forced liquidation in a crowded, leveraged trade, cautioning that “selling begets selling in a, in a market like this, when it’s nervous.” Gottlieb also rejected manipulation claims, stating, “The banks are not short,” and emphasized that official-sector demand remains policy driven. “A central bank never makes a decision based on price. They make a decision based on policy,” he said, arguing that short-term volatility does not necessarily alter the longer-term structural bid beneath gold.